Religious Community Related to Stages of Personal Growth: A Response to Rosemary Ruether's Paper

Abstract

have always agreed, is borne out Buddhism: . .. the goal of feminist spirituality is not to create its own religion, but rather to be a reforming and transforming influence on existing religious tradition. The categories are there, at the most basic and fundamental level of the Buddhist vision: three refugesBuddha, Dharma, Safgha. We are not inventing something new, something un-Buddhist. We are really seeing what has always been there, the refuge of Safigha, particularly as focus of personal nurture and supportive community. When the refuge of Sangha is really seen, really appreciated, it cannot be a poor third. It is as important in spiritual life as the Buddha and the Dharma, and people will care about being good Safgha members as much as they care about study, practice, and devotion. These concerns are particularly relevant North American Buddhism, because North American society has both the problem of alienation and the resource of feminist reconstruction more abundantly than any other society and because North American Buddhists really can make a fresh start. As I have argued so often, Western Buddhists have both the freedom and the awesome responsibility to receive Buddhist transmission without taking on the sociological inadequacies of Asian culture or perpetuating those of Western cultures. I do not know how relevant these comments are Asian Buddhists, just as Rosemary Ruether feels she cannot speak Asian Christians, I do not feel I can speak Asian Buddhists, especially on topics as subtle and as conventionally unspoken as the ones that are brought up in this response. However, I do feel that I can speak generally and abstractly Buddhism. In this speaking I hope that I am doing precisely what Rosemary Ruether calls when she says that it is for Buddhist, Jewish, and Moslim women to develop this possibility these religious traditions.